Multifuel burners



Nov. 4, 1969 I J. M. LEVAUX MULTIFUEL BURNERS Filed July 24, 1967 FIGBCFIG.6"'

United States Patent 3,476,321 MULTIFUEL BURNERS Jean Marie Levaux,Liege, Belgium, assignor to Cockerill- Ougree-Providence, Seraing,Belgium, a Belgian body corporate Filed July 24, 1967, Ser. No. 655,495

Claims priority, application Luxembourg, Aug. 29, 1966, I

51,838 Int. Cl. F23d 11/40, B051) N14 US. Cl. 239-422 4 Claims ABSTRACTOF THE DISCLOSURE A multiple fuel burner with a head divided into aplurality of partial burners, each having individually controlled supplylines for oxygen, liquid fuel and gaseous fuel so that the flame of eachpartial burner may be individually controlled. The partial burners maybe individually orientatable if desired to achieve a furtherversatility.

The present invention relates to multiple fuel burners.

The method is well known currently of carrying out various metallurgicaland siderurgical operations by means of burners of a type known asoxy-fuel burners, in which the supporter of combustion used is pureoxygen, supplied in amounts suitable for the operation envisaged.

As generally understood, the term oxy-fuel burner means a post mixingburner in which the liquid fuel is mixed with and atomised by oxygenjets outside the body of the burner.

A quite recent development has been that in which consideration is givento supplying such burners with several fuels simultaneously, forinstance liquid fuel and gaseous fuel, the liquid fuel possibly beingatomized beforehand by means of a compressed gas, which may be air. Aburner of this type, which is known as a multifuel burner, is describedin Belgian Patent 673,821.

In order to increase the surface area over which a burner of this typecan act effectively, consideration has also been given to the idea ofimparting to the said burner a periodic rotational movement about itslongitudinal axis as well as about an axis that is substantiallyvertical and perpendicular in relation to the said longitudinal axis. Bythis means, with one and the same burner, it is possible to envisage themelting of metals over a fairly extensive surface area, by virtue of thefact that the said burner can be oriented in any chosen direction.

The aim of the present invention is an improvement in the saidarrangement, by which it is possible to obtain a further increase in theeffective surface area covered by burners of this type.

The improvement provided by the invention has the considerable advantageof making it possible to keep the burner in a fixed, or practicallyfixed, position, which means that the whole device for the periodicoperation itself of the burner can be eliminated, together with all theinconvenience inherent in operating, maintaining and contigentlyrepairing the said device.

The improvement of the invention consists essentially in uniting in asingle burner body at least two partialburners of the oxy-fuel-gas type,which can, be supplied with gas independently of each other, the flameof each partial-burner preferably being adapted to be directed in adifferent direction.

The invention accordingly consists in a multiple fuel burner, comprisinga body having at its end on the outlet side an obturating plate, thesaid plate having at least two groups of nozzles, each group comprisingnozzles K 3,476,321 Patented Nov. 4, 1969 "ice supplied respectivelywith pure oxygen, gaseous fuel, liquid fuel, according to an arrangementknown per se, each of the said groups accordingly forming the head of anoxy-fuel-gas partial-burner; the nozzles of each group being connectedto channels having supply members suitable for each groupandvindependent of those of the other groups.

Each partial-burner can have a separate liquid cooling device, or thebody of the burner can have a single cooling device serving both or allthe partial-burners.

It is obvious that there will be numerous ways of arranging the heads ofthe partial-burners in juxtaposition, the said juxtaposition of thepartial-burners constituting a burner head according tothe invention.The various nozzles will be arranged'in accordance with requirements sothat the effective. field covered by the flames issuing from the burnerwill be circular, rectangular, spherical or arcuate as required,although the above enumeration is not restrictive.

In this connection it is possible to act solely on the effective surfacearea covered by one of the said partialburners, without interfering withthe others. In this case, the single body of the burner serves in actualpractice as a sheath for the partial-burners, which latter can arrangedon its periphery, inclined in the direction of also have an individualcooling circuit.

Each partial-burner head can moreover have nozzles the flame axis. Bysupplying the said nozzles individually with fuel and oxygen, it ispossible to alter the shape of the flame of each partial-burner entirelyindependently.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, which are given by way of example only and in no restrictivesense.

In the drawings:

FIGURES la, 1b, and 1c are three views of one form of the burner of theinvention.

FIGURES 2a, 2b, and 20 show alternative arrangements which can beadopted for the faces of three partialburners.

FIGURES 3a, 3b and 3c show a further alternative arrangement,

FIGURES 4a and 4b show a still further alternative arrangement, and

FIGURES 5 and 6 are two views which show a method of producing amultiple burner in which the partialburners are themselves orientable.

The burner of FIGURES 1a, 1b and 1c, shown in side and front elevationand in plan, is constituted of three partial-burners (1, 2, 3) ofoxy-fuel-gas in juxtaposition, the three flames being in the same plane.Each of the said partial-burners has its obturating plate with nozzlesand each has its own supply conduits for oxygen, liquidfuel an gaseousfuel as well as compressed air.

FIGURES 2a, 2b and 2c show a modification of the relative arrangementsof the three burners from the horizontal arrangement of burners. Theviews are similar to those of FIGURE 1, and show the flames inclined.FIG- URES 3a, 3b and 3c show the flames vertically directed. The end andside elevation of FIGURES 4a and 4b show an arrangement of three burnerswith their flames direct ed outwardly.

In FIGURE 3, the burner is constituted of an external cylindrical sheath4, in which are located three guide plates 5 having as many circularholes as there are partial-burners. Each partial-burner has an externalcylindrical shape and can rotate or slide in a pair of the holes in theplates 5. It is accordingly possible to adjust the position of thepartial-burners somewhat, even during operation.

I claim:

one of the groups of nozzles i s slidable and/or rotatable A multiplefuel bufn'er' do mprising a" body ha ing an outlet end, at least0nd,:jbbtul'2lting plate on the said outlet end nozzles in the said atleast one obturating plate and conduits for supplying "oxygen, liquidfuel and "gaseous fuel to individual'nozzles; the burner having theimprovement that the 'nozzles in the said at least one obturating plateare divided into at least two groups each comprising at least one nozzlefed with oxygen, at least one "nozzle fed with liquid fuel, and at leastone nozzle fed with gaseous fuel, the supplying conduits for each groupof nozzles being independent of the supplying conduits for the remainingnozzles, whereby each group of nozzles constitutes a head of a partialoXy-fuel burner. I 2. A burner as claimed in claim 1, in which thenozzles of each oxy-fuel-gas partial-burner are arranged in such a waythat the flame of achpartial-burner is orientated in a different,predetermined direction, which makes it possible to use the combinationof the flames to cover an effective area of predetermined configuration.

3. A burner as claimed in claim 2, in which at least relatiye to the ofhe r groups of nozzlesof the multiple burner, which makes it possibleto alter the orientation of the flame formed by the fluids issuing fromthe said at least one group of nozzles.

4. A burner as claimed in claim 1, in which the said body iscylindrical. 1

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 598,873 2/1898 Joy 2. 239-557 x1,626,047 4/1927 Morley

